


Deaths Spawn 3: Found

by stargatefan_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-06-27
Updated: 2004-06-27
Packaged: 2018-10-07 02:56:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10350840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargatefan_archivist/pseuds/stargatefan_archivist
Summary: Spoilers: "In the Line of Duty"Season: Some time between beginning of 3 and 5Summary: The war strikes out in earnest.  Can things ever go back tothe way they were?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

Stargate SG-1 Fanfiction - Deaths Spawn 3: Found

##  Deaths Spawn 3: Found

##### Written by Confushi Sushi  
Comments? Write to us at confushi_sushi@hotmail.com

  * SUMMARY: The war strikes out in earnest. Can things ever go back to the way they were?
  * SEASON: Some time between beginning of 3 and 5
  * R [D]



* * *

The tiny cargo ship exited hyperlaunch in a vastly empty region of space. The heat scarring along the topside of the vessel would have been blatantly obvious to anyone, had anyone been looking. Those within the ship could hear the moaning protest of the outer hull, the forces bombarding it testing the integrity of the weakened skin.

Teal’c and Jacob Carter were in the cockpit of the Tel’tak, shutting down every nonessential system they could. Quickly, Captain Grogan and Herak entered, wondering why they had dropped so far from anywhere.

"What’s wrong?" Grogan asked as soon as he entered.

"The engines heat output spiked. Apparently we suffered more damage than we first thought." Jacob replied, turning slightly in his chair to start a full diagnostic. As soon as the system beeped that it was complete, Jacob sagged in his chair.

"What is it?" Herak then probed.

"The engine itself is warped. We’re not going anywhere."

"Isn’t there any way we can do; some kind of repair?" Grogan suggested.

"We’d have to go outside of the ship and we don’t have the necessary equipment to do so." Herak informed the young Captain.

"Should we not send a distress call?" asked Teal’c.

"Could be a very bad idea. This area of space is closer to the front between the Goa’uld and the Yuuzhan Vong than any planet with an allied power. Chances are the wrong people would hear it first." Jacob stared into the screen, hoping to find some sort of solution. Unfortunately, none made themselves apparent.

"Maybe we should just send the signal and hope for the best. If we just sit here we have zero chance." Everyone pondered the young man’s words. He was right, if they wanted any chance for survival they would have to send the distress call and just hope the right guys were listening.

*

"Sir, we received a response from the System Lords." Sargent Davis informed the General after knocking on his office door.

"And?" he prompted.

"They say that the alliance would be unacceptable under present terms." Davis answered reluctantly. This joint endeavor was the only way to get rid of the alien invaders, and he knew it as well as anyone else.

Hammond pondered the news for a moment. "Have we received word yet from the Tollan and the Asgard?"

"The Tollan said that they would join if the Asgard were too. We haven’t gotten a response from the Asgard yet, sir."

"Thank you, Sargent. Keep trying."

"Yes, sir." Davis saluted and then returned to his post. When he was alone again, General Hammond let out a long sigh. They still had a ways to go yet.

*

The smell was cloying. The stink of rotting flesh seemed to saturate the air. Daniel tried to breathe through his mouth, but that only left the taste on his tongue. For a moment he debated which was worse, then resumed breathing through his mouth.

A warrior walked by, nonplussed by the odor of the ship.

"Hey! Excuse me! You wouldn’t happen to have any air freshener on you by any chance?" Jack called out to the alien, and Daniel knew even before the towering brute turned towards them that it had been the wrong thing to do. The Yuuzhan Vong walked over and viciously backhanded Jack, his cheek tearing to drip blood down the side of his face.

"Galak!" The alien warned, and then resumed his normal duties. You didn’t have to be a linguist to realize they had just been told to shut up. Daniel turned his head as far as the goo that surrounded him would allow, and was just able to make out Jack in his peripheral. They were both submerged to their necks in a thick, brown-red gel that effectively stopped any movement and seemed to also serve to nourish them. All they could do really was stare at the opposite wall and watch anyone who passed by.

"I do hope you find your accommodations… comfortable." Daniel snapped his head up to see Sam standing in front of them, pale green armor complete with a sweet smile. It was the same as the smile that he remembered her giving on many occasions, but something about it was different. Instead of bringing warmth, his insides felt chilled and he tried to look away.

"The décor is nice, but the health spa could use a little work." Jack replied, obviously trying to mask his discomfort.

"Still don’t know when to keep your mouth shut I see." Sam stated as she ran a finger through the trickle of blood on Jack’s cheek. He pulled his head away violently, but was unable to escape the touch. She chuckled at his efforts and then proceeded to spread the blood across one of Daniel’s cheeks. "Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you live long enough to see the Warmaster. He would be awfully disappointed if you didn’t make it."

Daniel squeezed his eyes shut as her lips descended, lightly brushing his bloody cheek. The act sent violent waves of nausea through him, and he just managed to keep the bile down. Giving them both one last smile, she left the room.

Never before had Daniel thought death would be such a prospective alternative.

*

"We should accept the Tau’ri’s offer for alliance!" Lord Yu bellowed to the other System Lords convened. They had already sent the message stating that present terms were unacceptable, but he had not survived as a System Lord for so long by being a fool. "If we allow the Asgard and these others to take casualties for us, we will all be better off."

"I will not ally myself with those scum!" Heru’ur bellowed, standing up from the large table.

"It will not be a permanent affair. We shall merely use them to end this war so that we may again set our sights on other goals." Yu rebuffed, remaining comfortably in his seat.

"I do not need the help of outsiders to secure my domain! I have thwarted countless attempts by these invaders to take what is mine!" Baal stated triumphantly.

"You have thousands of casualties, human and jaffa, to show for it! What will you rule when this is over?" Volak rebuffed, a recently new member to the group of System Lords.

"I have lost 2 planets, 2! You all have suffered far greater reductions in your empires. Perhaps you are simply envious of my abilities!" Baal shot back.

"My empire remains untouched, and undoubtedly will remain so no matter how this war turns out. The Yuuzhan Vong cannot take everything." Bastet smirked.

"They do not touch your empire because it can hardly be considered one!" Zipacna replied.

"Funny for you to comment so, haven’t they taken you for nearly all that you have?"

"You would do well to curb your words!" Zipacna roared.

"SILENCE!" Yu bellowed again and slowly the bickering subsided. "The System Lords will not fall from these invaders, but if we continue as we are then our place in the galaxy will be severely weakened. If we do not ally with the Asgard and others now, they shall simply destroy us when this is all over."

"I will **not** be a party to this." Heru’ur answered and stormed out, his Lotar following quickly behind.

"Nor will I suffer such an indignity!" Baal too left the room. The verbal attacks then started up again full steam. Yu shot them all an angry glare before leaving himself.

*

Everyone was trying to find some way to occupy themselves. Teal’c sat in the corner performing kel’no’reem as Grogan laid on his back, tossing a crumpled up piece of paper that had once been a page from his notebook into the air. Even though the lighting was minimized and most systems were off, the two Tok’ra still flew about the ship attending to tasks that the 2 couldn’t name, or even begin to guess. Maybe it was just their way of dealing with the boredom, for who knew that a dead ship would have so much to take care of?

Whatever it was that the Tok’ra were or weren’t doing was immediately dropped when the sensors began beeping. Teal’c opened his eyes and watched as the 2 men took their places in the pilots’ chairs.

"We have incoming Goa’uld ships. 3 Ha’taks." Herak stated for the others’ benefit.

"Well, this could have been better." Jacob commented dryly. The 3 vessels were just entering visual range, barely visible orange points converging upon them.

"I wonder if we got the better end of the bargain?" Grogan pondered, not knowing which of the 2 enemy races it would be worse to be the prisoner of, if they were taken prisoner.

Their view of the Goa’uld ships was blocked as several Asgard ships appeared directly in front of them. Some other vessels dropped from hyperlaunch off to their left.

"Scanners are detecting 4 Asgard ships and 2 Tollan vessels."

"What is going on here?" Jacob asked no one in particular.

"This is Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet to unknown cargo ship. Identify yourselves." Came an audio transmission, the Asgard's high voice a relief to all.

"This is Selmak of the Tok’ra. Our vessel is badly damaged and we require assistance." Selmak responded.

"The Bilizner is prepared to dock your ship and will assist in repairs when the battle is over." Came Thor’s reply.

"With the Goa’uld?" Jacob queried.

"With the Yuuzhan Vong." The 4 men exchanged questioning glances, wondering how such an attack force was assembled. Nothing was said as a tractor beam shot out of the nearest Asgard ship and pulled the damaged Tel’tak into the awaiting docking bay.

*

Calisa was sitting in the pilot’s seat of the _Grishnak_ , roughly translated as "Stalking One". Head incased in the fleshy confines of the cognition hood, and hands manipulating sensory nodes in the control gloves, her senses were expanded to that of the ship. She saw the hyperspace window they now occupied, and felt the vessel’s joy as it rushed through space. They would be dropping out soon to meet with the Supreme Commander’s detachment before continuing on to the Warmaster.

The ship reverted to normal space with a slight lurch, and through the eyes of the ship Calisa saw the Fleet group several thousand telnaks away. Zooming in, she could see the 4 large capital ships, ovoid in shape with spindly arms radiating from the hull. On each of these arms were dozens of coralskippers, the small one-man fighters of the Yuuzhan Vong. Soon she’d be able to refuel the ship and continue on her way.

The transport ship’s panic alerted Calisa to the new arrivals. She quickly identified the 3 Ha’taks that dropped out of space between her and the fleet. The idea of just 3 ships going up against the 5 capital vessels of the fleet caused her to laugh. She would have to be sure to remain out of the engagement though, cut off as she was she would fall easy prey to the ships and their compliments of Death Gliders that were now oozing from the bays. She ordered the ship to give the engagement a wide birth and circle around.

The ship did the mental equivalent to a shriek when 4 more vessels appeared, directly in her path. Calisa pulled a sharp turn, hoping to go around from the other side instead, when 2 more ships dropped out in her new course. Goa’uld, Asgard, and Tollan all in the same place? This mix did not make any sense to her, but she knew immediately that she had to get out of there. Pulling a sharp left turn, Calisa turned the ship away from the enemy ships, and subsequently, away from her own.

Shrieking, the ship automatically put up dovin basal singularities to protect it from the attacks of several gliders that had taken up pursuit. The Yuuzhan Vong occupying the gunner’s chair targeted the nearest glider and sent a volley of plasma into the attacker. The glider was prepared though, and easily dodged out of the way, the rapidly cooling rock flying harmlessly into space. There were too many ships firing at too many different locations for the shielding to stop them all. Some blasts simply caught the edge of the singularities and were curved on altered courses to still slam into the ship’s hull, while others went through completely unimpeded. The yorik coral, the substance with which the ship’s hull was made, superheated and evaporated under the continuing assault, causing ever growing pits to form.

Attempting to dodge the assault with such a lumbering vessel was impossible, and Calisa simply tried to keep as many shielding bays between her and the enemy ships as she could. Of the 6 Death Gliders giving chase, 2 were taken out with one shot as the damaged glider careened to the side and collided with the ship beside it. Continued shots against the hull rocked the ship and the vessel’s cries of pain were ringing through her head. A dovin basal installation was taken out, severely reducing the speed and shielding of the ship. Their speed was already significantly reduced from putting most of the dovin basal energy into shielding the ship, and the loss of power was keenly felt.

"Have we got a destination?" she asked the navigator, wanting to jump out while they still had the chance.

"Yuuzhan Vong do not run from battle." The warrior responded. Death wasn’t to be feared, but she had a mission to complete.

"Plot a course out of here now warrior!" she commanded in her harshest tone, wincing as another volley took out a gun emplacement. The warrior, however, refused to comply. 3 dovin basals remained, hardly enough to keep the ship going. There was no other choice, so she entered hyperspace blindly.

The moment the ship entered the window and the attack ended, Calisa ripped off the cognition hood and gloves. She stormed over to the warrior and punched him solidly in the face before he could react. He did not fall from his chair, he was a 7-foot tall warrior, but she was significantly pleased with the sharp angle his neck took before he righted himself.

"I do **not** tolerate disobedience!" she snarled.

"I will not follow a nedjat." The warrior responded proudly.

"I am your superior! You will follow my commands without question!" Sam lifted the ribbon device to drive her point home when the ship came out of hyperspace with none of its previous grace. She was flung to the rear bulkhead of the cockpit, and the 2 warriors still in their stations’ gear were forced to their limits. Shaking off the sharp pain running through her arm, Calisa looked out the transparent view port to see they exited mere miles above a planet, the atmosphere already rubbing against the hull.

Ignoring the navigator, Calisa returned to the pilot’s chair and righted the ship to minimize the friction. The weakened hull would be put to its limits, and the remaining dovin basals were still fatigued from their previous exertions on top of being overworked to control such a large craft. She used all the energy of the dovin basals to push against the planet, trying to slow their descent as much as possible. Even so, the ship plunged through the upper atmosphere, slowly but surely picking up speed as they plummeted towards the surface.

Knowing there was no more she could do she reached around and pulled the restrictive strapping, similar to the consistency of animal gut, and pulled it around herself, the gooey cords attaching to each other as the fluid around them solidified and bound the cords together. Hoping against hope that the restraining cords would be enough, she closed her eyes and awaited the crash.

*

"So you’re saying that you managed to get the System Lords to ally with you to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong?" Jacob asked Thor, the wreckage of the Yuuzhan Vong vessels floating out in space, visible from the view port.

"That is correct. The vote was far from unanimous, many did not favor such an action." The small Asgard replied. 1 Asgard ship had been severely damaged and was being towed by the remaining ships. The Tollan had kept away from the main engagement, acting as reserves rather than the main force. The Goa’uld contribution had mostly been the Death Gliders, which helped to occupy the Yuuzhan Vong’s coralskippers and keep them from the larger ships, of which many had been lost. But the Yuuzhan Vong battle group had been caught unawares and the victory was complete.

"One Yuuzhan Vong vessel cut off from the rest of the group did manage to flee into hyperspace, but not before receiving heavy damage." Thor added after a few moments of silence. None of them knew what that vessel had contained or where it was at that very moment, a distant planet about the size of a nail head winking inconspicuously in the darkness of space.

"The Tok’ra have also joined in this alliance?" Herak continued.

"Yes, they and the people of Earth are serving mainly to gather intelligence about enemy positions, as neither are well equipped to wage this war."

The 4 stood there in contemplative silence as they awaited the repairs on their ship to be completed.

*

General Hammond stood in the Control Room as the chevrons began to lock. It was days past due for Colonel O’Neill and the rest of the rescue group to report in, one way or the other. Instinctually, he knew that it had gone wrong, but exactly how wrong he was unable to tell. All he knew was that the sinking feeling in his chest wouldn’t leave him be until he knew the fate of his people.

The wormhole burst forth and the iris slid smoothly over the surface. Hammond looked down at the technician expectantly, awaiting a signal of who was trying to get through.

"Receiving IDC, sir. It’s the Tok’ra." He nodded for the iris to be opened, and then went down into the Gate Room to greet their visitors. He was not expecting Jacob, an unknown Tok’ra, Teal’c, and Captain Grogan to exit the wormhole, but found his fears doubling when they were the only ones who did.

"Where’s the rest of SG-1 and SG-4?" he asked immediately, drowned out slightly by the Stargate disengaging.

"SG-4 is dead. Colonel O’Neill and Daniel Jackson were captured by the Yuuzhan Vong as we were making our escape. The arrival of an enemy ship prevented us from rendering aid." Teal’c replied, the General noticing the anxiety in the jaffa’s features, even if the others couldn’t.

"Alright, save the rest for the debriefing. Go get yourselves checked out." The men and the unnamed Tok’ra filed out of the room, leaving just General Hammond and Jacob standing at the base of the ramp.

"Just keeps going from bad to worse, don’t it?" Jacob stated, allowing his despair to shine through now that they were all but alone.

"This command is severely lacking in personnel. I can’t afford to expend any resources in locating Colonel O’Neill, Doctor Jackson, or Major Carter." He admitted sadly. Both of them knew how tough this situation was for each other, so no more words were spoken. The two just stood there for a few moments, silently sharing their troubles.

*

As Jack began to come to he couldn’t remember having gone to sleep. Eyes still closed; he began to realize that he was on his side. Then, he felt the pain. All along his back and left side a throbbing ache consumed him, forcing Jack to moan weakly. Images of the ship shaking violently came to his mind, the memories disappearing not too long after. Whatever had happened, the force had been strong enough to tear him from the gooey prison, which had probably saved his life.

Daniel!

The sudden fear for his friend forced Jack’s eyes wide open. A Yuuzhan Vong head stared at him through clouded eyes, neck hanging at an angle no living creature could hope to attain. He muffled a startled cry as he painfully pushed himself up, noting that nothing appeared to be broken. Looking around frantically he found Daniel lying in the far corner.

As fast as his wounded body would allow, Jack crawled over to his friend, quickly feeling for a pulse, and letting out a sigh of relief when he felt it. He quickly did a brief examination to make sure that Daniel didn’t have any serious injuries, and once he was satisfied he began slapping the archaeologist softly on the cheek.

"Daniel. Daniel, wake up!" Jack began in almost a whisper, soon almost yelling.

"Be th’re in f’ve." The unconscious man mumbled, swatting weakly at the offending hand.

"No, Danny, now! Get your butt off that floor Doctor!" Jack responded in a commanding tone, satisfied when the man’s eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Jack?"

"How ya feeling Danny-boy?" Jack asked with a quirky smile.

"Like I was just trampled by an Unas." Daniel replied, groaning as Jack helped him to sit up against the wall.

"If ‘trampled by an Unas’ means slammed against the wall, then you’re right."

"What happened?"

"I guess we ran into something." Jack answered, shrugging his shoulders. Daniel looked off to the side and saw the dead Yuuzhan Vong, quickly looking away.

"We need to find Sam." Daniel stated resolutely. Jack was having the same idea. Whatever had happened, they had hit hard, and at least 1 hadn’t made it. Tentatively rising to his feet, Jack offered his hand and helped Daniel to stand as well.

They were in a sort of corridor, so they could either go left or right. Unfortunately they weren’t familiar with the layout of the ship so they had no idea where to look. "Left?" Jack asked.

"Have to start somewhere." Daniel replied, and they leaned heavily against the wall as they made their way out of the left passage. They passed an empty room, unable to identify its purpose. At the end of the hall was what appeared to be a sleeping area, bed-like growths were strewn about the floor, apparently tossed about during the crash. A Yuuzhan Vong lay in a contorted position in the middle of the floor, chest plate cracked completely in two, half of it resting on the ground beside him. Blood pooled under the alien leaving no doubt that it too had not survived.

Not finding their target, they made their way in the other direction. After passing through their prison area again, they saw a warrior sitting against the corridor, blood running from its ear and nose. Upon hearing their approach, it opened its eyes and slowly turned its head to face them. The warrior began to pull itself up, broken right arm scrabbling for purchase against the rough wall while equally damaged legs forced their way beneath its mass and support its weight. Jack and Daniel watched in stunned silence as the alien righted itself, amazed that it was able to perform such a task.

"Um, hi there. We’re just trying to get over there. So, um, if you could, maybe, you know, let us by, that would be great." Jack motioned at the alien, wondering if it even understood him. He had yet to see anyone on this ship aside from Sam speak English, so he had to wonder.

"Dore Vong pratte." It uttered as it slowly made its way closer. The blood pooled at the bottom of its chin and dripped down onto the rust brown armor of its chest. It fell down to its knees, arms bracing itself from falling further, and they watched the alien slowly succumb to its head wound. When they were sufficiently convinced it was dead, they cautiously made their way around the body.

The cockpit was a mess. Chunks of the walls had come free and lay randomly about the floor. Umbilicals hanging from the ceiling had been stretched to their limits, the broken ends dripping some sort of white puss. The Yuuzhan Vong that had worn no armor lay broken in the back corner, hardly recognizable for what it was. The other 2 had apparently flown from their chairs with such force that their armor was no protection from the unyielding innards of the ship. A look through the damaged transparent membrane showed dirt and various debris obstructing most of the view, aside from a small patch of sky, revealing it was daytime on whatever planet they were on.

Sam, however, was nowhere to be seen. As panic rose within them, they scattered around the compartment, ignoring the pain shooting through their limbs, scrabbling through the debris that littered the floor. Jack saw that the front of one chair had broken tentacles poking forwards from it, the curves suggesting that it once went around someone. Directly in front of that a large piece of the inner hull lay at an odd angle on the floor. A closer inspection showed a hand poking out from under the debris, a very familiar hand.

"Daniel!" Jack motioned the other man over, and brought his attention to the large chunk of wall. With his help, they were able to slowly lift the mass and toss it aside, the effort leaving them both out of breath and shaky.

Her armor had obviously taken a very serious beating, hairline cracks running partway down the back, coming down the shoulders from the front side. Jack very quickly searched her neck for a pulse, and panicked when he didn’t find one. Calming himself down and trying again, he finally located it, slow and weak, but there nonetheless.

"I don’t know if we should move her." Jack voiced. They had seen the armor turn bullets at virtually point-blank range, so there was no argument that the stuff was strong. Hopefully the armor had done its job and taken the brunt of the damage, but they couldn’t be sure until they got it off of her. Of course, they had no idea of how to even begin to take the thing off.

Sam was lying on her back with her face turned to the side, blood seeping from just above her hairline. Daniel didn’t know what else to do, so he tore off a piece of his shirt and wadded it up, trying to stem the blood flow.

Jack came beside Daniel, repeating a similar process as the one he had used on the young man beside him. They needed her help if they were going to help her.

"Carter. Hey, Carter." He whispered near her ear, lightly tapping her cheek. He allowed himself a small smile when her breathing changed and her eyes began to open.

She looked at both of them for a few moments, confusion evident in her eyes. "Sir?" she asked in almost a whisper, her face contorting in pain.

"Easy there Carter. You gotta stay with us, ok?" Jack couldn’t help the huge grin that now adorned his face. She appeared to be normal! Maybe a good knock on the head was all that she had needed.

"What…" her question was cut short as something seemed to click in her mind. Suddenly, her face contorted into a scowl, and she tried to push off the floor to launch herself at them. The pain caused her to scream, and in her weakened state Jack and Daniel had little trouble keeping her held down. "Let go of me!"

"Damn it, Carter! Hold still, your only hurting yourself!" Jack shouted out his anger that the moment had only been a fleeting one. Slowly her struggles ceased, and all she could do was moan and whimper against the pain. They waited silently until she sufficiently recovered.

"Release me now!" Sam demanded, closing her eyes against the pain that speaking brought. Even breathing looked painful. Jack guessed she had several broken ribs.

"You’re hurt. Let us help you." Daniel tried to reason.

"I don’t need your help." She looked up at them as much as her position would allow, the sweat soaking her brow visible in the light emanating from the ship.

"Yes you do! Now can we forget all of this ‘I’m bad and you’re good’ bull? Right now, we want to help you and you want to live long enough to get revenge or something. So, either you begin to cooperate, or we’ll walk out that door." Jack stated in a tone that brokered no compromises. Both Sam and Daniel gave him a shocked look, neither expecting such a turn.

"Jack, we can’t do that!" Daniel tried to reason. Just because she didn’t want their help in her current position was no reason not to try to give it, he thought.

"Yes we can, Daniel. And that’s just what we will do. The ball’s in your court, Carter."

Her gaze passed from one man to the other, no doubt trying to gauge if Daniel could stop him if Jack wasn’t bluffing. At first it had only been meant as a scare tactic to get her cooperation, but Jack doubted his own position. Would he just walk away if she refused? Could he? Finally Sam shut her eyes and turned her head into the floor. "Fine."

The fact that he wouldn’t have to figure just how serious he may have been caused Jack to release a muffled sigh. "Alright then. First thing, we have to see how bad you’re hurt. How do we get that stuff off?" Jack gestured to the armor she wore.

"There’s a bundle of nerves inside the chest plate. You have to reach in the neck from the front." Came the reluctant reply.

"Here, Danny, help me turn her over." As they began to lever her on her front, Jack noticed the hand device, quickly grabbing it and pulling it off. Sam looked up at him with barely veiled anger, to which he responded "It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t."

After several grunts and stifled moans of pain Sam was laying on her back. Both men stopped when they saw the damage to the front of the armor. The chest was pulverized; fractures and cracks radiating out like a broken pane of glass. They paled as they realized that the armor had been the only thing that saved her life.

Jack was reaching down to do the release when he just pulled away. "You’re not naked under there or anything?"

Daniel gave him a disapproving glare. "I’ll do it." The archaeologist then reached down, his motion slowed no doubt by the chance that she may be, but his hand continued on. A few inches down from the collar he felt a small bump on the inside of the armor.

"You have to press it hard." She clarified.

"Isn’t this a bad place for the release. Wouldn’t a strong impact open it up then?" Daniel asked, cheeks reddening as he remembered he still had his hand inside the armor, but he didn’t remove it.

"No. It needs direct pressure to open." He squeezed the bundle as hard as he could and suddenly the armor’s seams made a squelching noise and opened up a few inches. Sam cried out in agony, and the two men shuddered at the idea of being encased in something alive like that.

Getting over any problems with modesty, Jack grabbed the open seam and pulled the chest all the way open; grimacing as the fleshy innards of the armor squished against his fingers. The discomfort was immediately forgotten when he caught sight of the damage. Sam was wearing a short top shirt, so dark blue as to virtually be black. The living garment was torn to near uselessness, white puss oozing from the cut. The damage transferred down onto Sam, the cut starting out mid-chest and running down diagonally almost to mid waist. Blood smeared over the inside of the armor and all across her abdomen, running down and obviously beginning to pool underneath her. Jack looked at the armor and saw the hard piece cutting through the soft inside, apparently a second layer that had broken inwards upon impact.

"God." Daniel exclaimed, wasting no time in pulling off his own shirt and pressing it against the wound. Sam screamed in pain and strained against him, sickening squelching noises being made by the blood within the armor. "Sorry." He added.

While Daniel tried to stem the bleeding, Jack began to pull open the rest of the armor, looking for any other damage they should be aware of. Her right forearm was obviously broken, but all other wounds seemed to be minor bruises and cuts. She needed proper bandages; their shirts weren’t going to cut it.

"Where’s the first aid on this ship?" Jack asked.

It took a moment for Sam to gather up the ability to respond. "In the reldak." At their blank stares she elaborated. "The sleeping room at the far end of the ship. There is a taste pad on the sidewall. Only Yuuzhan Vong may open it."

Jack raced back until he reached the demolished sleeping area. It took several moments of searching for him to recognize the raised contour of the pad, well camouflaged into the natural surface of the walls. Remembering her words, Jack looked over at the dead Yuuzhan Vong. The last thing he wanted to do was touch the thing, but he had no other choice. With blatant disgust, he dragged the corpse to the wall, and pulled up its hand to run it against the surface. A part of the wall beside it slid back like an eyelid, revealing a compartment.

Inside were several things he had no name for and even less of a clue as to their function. Not knowing what he needed, he filled his arms with various objects, trying hard not to think about the fact that they all were living creatures of some sort, and hastened back to the cockpit. Dropping the objects beside Sam, he looked at her for further instructions.

Her breathing was labored, and Jack thought that she looked even paler than before he left. There was a pause before she answered his questioning stare. "The, the pad that’s spongy." Jack saw the dark green pad she was speaking of, and held it up. Sam nodded. "Peel off a layer. Use it, as a bandage."

The exchange left her breathless, and they watched as she painfully sucked in air to her straining lungs. Jack then proceeded to peel off the first layer of the pad, the material felt very similar to moss. After giving Daniel a look, the shirt was lifted off of the wound and Jack pressed on the bandage as more blood threatened to ooze out. He noticed the material stuck to her skin, Sam moaning loudly as it settled around the wound.

*

Daniel just watched as Sam lay there, trying to overcome the pain of the bandage. He hoped that as much as it seemed to be hurting her that it was helping her as well.

"Daniel, why don’t you see if we can get out of this little disaster area. Find out where we are." Jack suggested.

Nodding, and giving Sam one final glance, he got up and went down the corridors in search of the exit. It took him a bit of searching to find the hatch. Even from the inside it didn’t look good, black scorches seared through the material at the seams. To the side of the door was a raised growth Daniel guessed to be the controls. He realized that he would need the help of one of the dead Yuuzhan Vong if he wanted to go outside. Unlike Jack, Daniel couldn’t block out the dead bodies, and he had to struggle to keep the contents of his stomach, of which there couldn’t be much, where it belonged.

Finally placing the alien’s hand on the pad, the hatch emitted a deep groan. For a second nothing else happened, then the door fell outwards, cluttering heavily against the ground below it. Daniel was greeted by the sight of a lush forest, dirt and loam sprayed about the nearby foliage, a testament to the ferocity of their landing. Scrabbling down the hatch, he took a look at the ship.

A trench ran through the forest behind the ship, disappearing into the trees. Broken limbs and wrecks of trees were strewn about; damaging the trees nearby that had been fortunate enough to evade the ship. The ship’s hull itself was a complete wreck. Gouges ran all along the sides and no doubt on the bottom, and deep pits were evident from what he could see near the top. It was clear that this ship was going nowhere anytime soon, probably not ever.

From what he could see, Daniel couldn’t say if they were near any civilization or anything that may be able to help them out. All there was too see were trees. A growing shriek in the air caught his attention, drawing Daniel’s gaze skyward. It took a moment for him to identify the several black spots growing slowly larger in the deep blue sky, but once he saw them the sound became immediately identifiable; Death Gliders. Knowing it was best not to be seen himself, Daniel ran back into the safety of the ship.

He ran frantically back into the cockpit, panting heavily when he arrived. Jack had taken Sam out of the armor, and she now lay on the floor, apparently resting. She did awaken, however, when Daniel crashed into the room.

"What’s going on?" Jack asked, alert to the man’s uneasiness.

"Gliders outside." In the silence that ensued, the growing cry of the Death Gliders’ engines could be heard through the open hatch, distance and walls making the sound seem further away than they actually were.

"That’s not good. No way they could miss a ship this size." Jack stated.

"They’ll send someone to investigate, won’t they?" Daniel asked. If a group was going to come to check out the ship, then they couldn’t stay there.

"Of course they will, we have to go." Jack stated, picking up Sam and ignoring the protesting aches of his body. She was too weak to resist even if she wanted to, so they exited the ship cautiously and made their way into the woods. Having no idea what was in any direction, or if indeed there was anything, they just kept going straight after leaving the ship.

*

Teal’c entered the gym and began his exercise routine, starting with bench presses. He had hoped the physical activity would allow his mind to focus, if only temporarily. But it soon became evident that his attempts were futile. The jaffa could not stop thinking about his teammates, wondering if they were still alive. Somehow, he had failed them. He should have been able to help them when Major Carter had used the hand device. Realistically, he knew that there was no way he could have done anything before the rings descended, but at the moment he wasn’t thinking realistically.

The rest of his team were prisoners of the enemy, one of them even worse. Teal’c couldn’t help but curse his inability to assist them. He had no special skills that would aid in locating them. All he could do was hope that he came across them while on missions with his new, and hopefully temporary, team, or that the Tok’ra or one of their other allies would find them. Until such a time, Teal’c couldn’t help but feel useless. Feel guilty.

*

Jacob sat with the rest of the Tok’ra High Council as the agent before them gave his report.

"The System Lords have reported that one of their picket groups came across a wrecked Yuuzhan Vong midsize transport ship." Gralshen began, immediately getting Jacob’s interest.

"What did they find?" he asked.

"They found the bodies of 6 Yuuzhan Vong inside. Nothing else was reported." Came the reply. Jacob didn’t know how to feel about the news. He still didn’t know whether his daughter and the others were alive, and if so, where they were. He heard Selmak’s soothing voice in the back of his mind trying to reassure him, but was hard pressed to take the words to heart right then. He wanted to know. He wanted his daughter back.

After that, he found it impossible to focus on the rest of the meeting, Selmak finally taking control so that he could set his mind to other things. He wondered where Sam and the others were at that moment, and what was happening to them. His biggest question though was whether they could ever get her back to her old self.

God, he hoped so.

*

"How has this happened? Our spies have assured us that the Goa’uld and the other powers of this galaxy would never come together!" The Warmaster raged at the messenger kneeled before him. It was his task to prepare this galaxy for his people, and events had taken a drastic turn. The allied forces were driving back their positions.

"It would not have seemed possible. They are the greatest of enemies." The messenger replied, head still downcast. Tsavong Lah was in a grave mood now; it would not do to cross him.

"And yet, it has happened. We should be grateful, Yun Yammka gives us the chance for glorious battle." The Warmaster stated proudly, speaking of the great Yuuzhan Vong god of war.

"May our warriors serve proudly." The messenger agreed. He may survive this encounter after all.

"We shall strike back. Take 1000 of the slaves and sacrifice them to Yun Yammka. Victory will be assured."

*

The forest became rather cold at night. A soft breeze caused the tops of the trees to sway gently, the rustling leaves creating a sort of symphony with the various animal calls echoing off the sky. Jack sat close to the fire he had managed to build, tending to the small hare-like creature cooking atop it. It was times like these that he praised his training, they would have starved to death by now if he hadn’t been able to build traps out of loose vines and saplings. A couffee he had palmed from one of the dead warriors worked well in skinning the animal.

After they had gotten far enough away from the ship to not worry about being found, Jack had decided it best to stay put until Sam healed sufficiently. She was still by no means her old self, but weakness and pain kept Sam from struggling too much against their ministrations. For the most part she accepted the food she was given and slept as the pain would allow. She was stronger than she had a right to be, still far from healed though, and Jack figured it was the living bandage that was responsible for that. As much as it seemed to promote healing, it apparently didn’t do anything for the pain she was in, if anything it made it worse.

Her arm was done up in a crude splint, 2 small straight branches and some fine, pliable, vine keeping the bone in position. The deep wound on her chest was his biggest concern though, but she didn’t allow them to check on it, simply assuring them that the bandage was doing its job. He had insisted upon changing the bandage several days ago but Sam had adamantly refused and stated that the bandage was self-cleaning and would not need to be replaced.

Turning the crude spit the creature was on, Jack glanced over at Sam, who laid on her back beside the fire, eyes closed in sleep. Her clothes, he hesitated to call them such, were virtually useless to keep her warm. Aside from the small top, she also had a sort of loincloth like the other alien he had seen, barely enough to keep her decent. Diverting his gaze to Daniel who sat on the other side of the fire, Jack saw that the young man was watching Sam as he had been. In that unguarded moment, the pain was evident on the archaeologist’s face. Jack could understand, he felt the same way. They didn’t know if they could ever get her back.

"I don’t understand how if she remembers who she is how Sam can believe what they have told her." Daniel mumbled, barely audible over the rustling of the trees and the crackling of the fire. He also kept close to the fire, no longer having his T-shirt for protection. Jack didn’t understand that one either. Until she told them what had been done to her, it would be impossible to say.

"I wish I knew, maybe then we’d know what we needed to do to get her back." Jack’s gaze was focussed on the scars that adorned her forehead. 3 vertical slits ran nearly from her eyebrows to her hairline. The firelight danced across her now serene face, causing the wounds to glow eerily. If the sight did not haunt him so much, he could almost imagine that right then, she was the same old Carter they all knew and loved. But the scars refused to be ignored, catching his attention whenever his mind tried to drift.

"Um, Jack, your hare’s on fire." The oddity of the statement caused Jack to snap his head in Daniel’s direction, a confused look upon his face. He was about to ask if Daniel felt all right when he saw their dinner singeing black as the flames licked against it. Quickly regaining his composure, Jack pulled the stick off of its holders, blowing out the lingering embers on the animal.

"Order up!" Jack called out, mimicking hitting a short order chef at a small diner. Daniel gave him a bemused stare while Sam moaned and opened her eyes slowly. "Hey, Carter, hungry?"

"Don’t call me that." Sam replied angrily, but in an even tone. Jack and Daniel had decided that, among other things, that calling her by her real name instead of the one the Yuuzhan Vong had appointed her would help with her recovery. At first she had screamed and carried on each time they did so, but either she was realizing that it wasn’t worth the effort, or she was slowly coming around, so her protests had become half-hearted. She still refused to participate in any unnecessary discussions, and when she was awake she usually gave them both cold stares, if she looked at them at all. By no means was she her former self, but neither was she as fanatically against them as she had been.

"Ain’t gonna happen. So, are you going to eat or not?" Jack ripped off a hind leg and held it out to Sam, who painfully struggled to sit up. Neither of them bothered to offer their assistance, she had made it clear that was not welcome the moment she was able to rise on her own, no matter how much it hurt or how drained the act left her afterwards. Grumbling, she swiped the leg with her good hand, eating it as she leaned against a nearby tree.

"How long are we going to stay here?" Daniel asked.

"Maybe tomorrow we can head out. But, Daniel, where would you have us go?" Jack replied.

"I don’t know, but staying here forever certainly isn’t going to help us."

"No, but it would be nice if I didn’t have to carry Carter around when we do move."

"I don’t need to be carried!" Sam fumed. Her statement would have been stronger had Jack not seen the brief wince that creased her face when she yelled. As much as the cut may be healing, her ribs were still broken. Even if she could walk, Jack knew that carrying her was not an option she was willing to entertain, it would have to be a very relaxed pace or they wouldn’t be going anywhere.

"Be that as it may, we still don’t have a clue which way we should go. We may be headed in the wrong direction right now for all we know." Jack replied, not really wanting to deal with another of her ‘Vong pride’ issues as he had dubbed them. Whenever any of their statements had implied weakness she was always quick to contradict them, and prove them wrong. One such attempt had resulted in a face-plant onto the ground and silent tears as the pain made screaming impossible. The last thing they needed right now was for her to damage herself further.

When the meager meal was finished, Jack took first watch. He tried to decide which direction seemed most promising to find civilization, or, while he was wishing, a Stargate. If they weren’t planning to head out before, he knew for a fact they were now. ‘Yuuzhan Vong’ or not, Sam was extremely stubborn. And, however accidentally, he had given her something to prove. He really should have thought more before he spoke.

*

A planet hurtled happily through space. The people were content and innocent, going about their lives with practiced ease. They had nothing to fear; they were well protected. Goa’uld had attempted to take over their planet and had been repulsed, adding to the air of invincibility that the people thought they had. The only thing that could harm them was the ravage of time, and such had been severely eased.

The observatory barely noted the rock that suddenly appeared on their long-range sensors. It was not uncommon for an asteroid or comet to streak relatively close to the planet. A second and third, and subsequent 20 more contacts quickly caught their attention. The 20 contacts quickly became more like 200 as the capital ships released their coralskippers. A churning mass of destruction sped its way to the planet. For the first time in hundreds of years, the people of Tollana were afraid.

Assuming their Ion Cannons to be all the protection their planet needed, the Tollans had nothing to speak of for a fleet. A few medium sized ships stationed themselves between the attacking fleet and the planet, doomed even before the enemy ships came into range. As advanced as Tollan technology may be, 5 ships were nothing to the cloud that raced forward.

A wall of coralskippers reached the vanguard first. The Tollan vessels had a longer range than the smaller ships, and began firing upon them as they came in range. Their blasts were sucked in by the dovin basal shielding of the ships, forcing 2 shots to be used to destroy one ship, one to overwhelm the shielding and the second to vanquish the ship. 12 of the coralskippers were destroyed before they even got into range. 

The instant the ships were close enough, they all opened fire, the space between them and the Tollan vessels seemingly lighting on fire. 1 of the ship's shields was immediately overwhelmed, the superheated rock eating through the hull, gutting the ship. 2 others were severely damaged. All of them had sustained some of the attack. Continued blasts from the coralskippers quickly overwhelmed the remaining ships. There was now nothing between the ships and the planet itself.

It took about 30 minutes for the fleet to reach the planet. As soon as the capital ships set up orbit and the smaller vessels shot down to begin their assaults, the Ion Cannon defense screen opened up. Blasts of energy sizzled through the sky, taking out enemy ship after ship. Even through the heavy losses, the ample amount of enemy ships continued on to cannon installations, destroying them one by one. The Yuuzhan Vong fleet group would be severely decimated, but the planet stood no chance of repelling them.

Flaming projectiles streaked through the sky; tears for the second incarnation of Tollana.

*

General Hammond slumped in the large chair in his office. They had lost one of their allies in the battle against the Yuuzhan Vong, the Tollan had been all but wiped out. He had been shocked when the Stargate opened and their IDC had been received. Even more so when the large stream of refugees had began pouring through. The Yuuzhan Vong had sent a large fleet group against them, and the Tollans had stated that more than 50% of the group had to have been destroyed in the attack. They had won, but the victory had cost them.

After having the more critically wounded tended to, Hammond had sent the survivors to the Alpha Site. Of a planet of hundreds of thousands, a little shy of 200 now lived. Before they were sent out the halls had been crowded, the base not designed to hold such an extensive number of people at one time. Though the people were gone, an air of defeat lingered around the base.

*

Teal’c found himself assigned to SG-3, turning it into a 5-man team. They had just left on their first mission together to P7X 443, a planet that was very close to the front lines. No one was sure who controlled the planet, which was one of the reasons why they were going. The MALP had shown nothing at the ‘gate, so the mission had been given the go ahead.

An open field greeted the team on the other side. It was a veritable desert of grass, stretching off into the horizon until a gently rolling hill cut off further view. Behind the Stargate a forest could just barely be made out in the distance. It was lucky that there was no one waiting for them at the ‘gate, there was no protection of any sort if they had been forced into a shoot out.

Colonel Griff ordered the team forward towards the distant hill. It was mid afternoon on the planet, so the sun was beginning to set when they finally came to the rise. As they got closer, the sound of activity from the other side of the hill caused them to approach with caution. Crawling up the hill as they reached the crest, the sight they were greeted with was truly startling.

The valley below was littered with shelters and various peoples. Fields off in the distance were identified as villip paddies, and they even saw some coralskippers in mid stages of creation. The Yuuzhan Vong were quite literally growing an army on the planet. At first the lax security on such an obviously vital staging area was perplexing, until a closer look was taken at the slaves below. Some were tending to the fields and other duties, while large groups of hundreds were cordoned off in large pens.

Teal’c could tell from that distance, even without binoculars, that the slaves in the pens were not normal. The glint of white growths on their bodies, covering them like plates of armor, could be seen in the fading light. There were also various fights breaking out, the humans in the pens acting more like mindless animals than anything else. It was quite apparent to all there that those humans would be put up in the front lines, probably as shock troops to soften up enemy locations for the main assault. The lack of protection made more sense then, they had all the army they needed in those pens. No doubt there were vessels in orbit to protect against any threats from space.

"Colonel Griff, we should notify General Hammond immediately of the situation on this planet." Teal’c suggested, not that he doubted that they would return to the Stargate as soon as possible.

"Damn straight. Let’s go people, I don’t want them to figure out we’re here." With that the team retreated back down the slope and made their way back to the Stargate in the beginnings of dusk.

*

"You mean to say that they are using humans as soldiers?" Hammond asked after hearing their story.

"Looks that way, General. The growths looked just like armor, plus all the other stuff they were growing there." Colonel Griff responded.

"Unfortunately we don’t know whether they are working for the Yuuzhan Vong against their will or not."

"What are you talking about? How could anyone agree to that?" Griff questioned incredulously.

"Who knows. But the fact remains it would be easier to know if we could save them if we knew their motives. If, for some sick reason, they are working willingly for the Yuuzhan Vong, any teams we send in there to save them could be in danger from the very people they are trying to save." The General elaborated.

"Perhaps they are using some sort of control similar to that of Major Carter." Teal’c added.

"It’s a possibility. Taking out this installation would be a heavy blow to their supply lines, but a covert strike will be impossible if we try to save the slaves. That begs the question to be asked, just how many potentially innocent lives is this attack worth?" All were silent as they pondered the answer. If there was a chance that they could save those people did they have the right not to try?

*

They ended up returning to the planet reluctantly with SG-5. The large group was carrying P90’s, and also laden down with plenty of C-4 and timers. It had been decided that the position was too important to not deal with by people higher up on the chain than Hammond was. They could understand the brass’ position, even if they didn’t feel quite the same way. Who knew, they might even be doing these people a favor this way.

With the blanket of darkness enveloping the planet, SG-3 and 5 made their way to the crest of the hill. Peering into the valley they could see many lit fires, especially around the perimeter. On top of that the meager Yuuzhan Vong guard had some of the mindless human warriors in tow. 3 or 4 of them were assigned to each warrior, a sort of leash bound around their necks. These groups patrolled the grounds as one would with a guard dog, the humans pulling against their bonds. Why they didn’t just attack their overseers was a mystery.

It was decided that SG-3 would infiltrate the area while SG-5 radioed enemy positions to them from the hill. They all inserted their ear pieces to prevent the radios from being heard by the enemy, and slowly made their way down the hill, trying to stay in the shadows of some trees and other vegetation that grew occasionally.

Confirming their suspicion, a wing of coralskippers was heard zooming by overhead. Fortunately it was dark enough that being spotted from the air wasn’t much of a concern. The fires were bright, but distant enough that small shafts of darkness still existed in between. As long as they stayed out of the way of the patrols then getting in should be simple enough.

Slowly, they made their way through the outer screen, the eyes of SG-5 a tremendous advantage of the seemingly random groups. At one point they had to duck into the tall grass as a Yuuzhan Vong with its group walked by not 10 feet away. Fortunately the grass easily hid them from view and the warrior was completely unaware of their presence.

Getting further in was a problem. The patrols passed by with greater frequency and natural obstacles to hide behind or under became few and far between. They couldn’t risk killing anyone, no matter how silent, because there was no good place to leave the bodies. So mostly they waited for very small windows of opportunity to move deeper into the outpost.

When they finally reached the first shell building, the patrols all but disappeared. Apparently they weren’t too worried about anyone getting in this far, and if they didn’t have SG-5 looking out for them then they wouldn’t have. The shells mostly appeared to be sleeping areas for the normal slaves, but one large one, about the size of 3 normal shells, caught their attention.

The building was large enough to cram 50 people into if the Yuuzhan Vong so wanted. Using a periscope, Colonel Griff peered around the corner of the opening, taking a peek at what was inside. In there he found several shapers, identifiable by the headdresses that they wore. Several pallet-like protrusions held down humans in the early stages of change. The beginnings of the white growths they saw on the others were jutting out of cheekbones and arms, just beginning to cover the victims. Those in the later stages of conversion were straining against straps that held them down, crying out like distressed animals.

Using hand signals, Griff motioned to one of the lieutenants, who nodded and applied one of the bricks of explosive near the ground just inside the door. They didn’t know how rugged these buildings might be, so it was decided to place any C-4, if they could, just inside the building where the blast would destroy anything inside. It was obvious that this is where the slave armies were being created, so it was a prime target.

They worked their way back into the now untended fields, setting up their charges where the most damage could be done. The pens were much more difficult. The occupants within snarled and reached out for them; nothing new as the Yuuzhan Vong mulling about didn’t even spare them a glance. What was hard was actually setting up the explosives. Though these people acted no more than mindless animals now, the group was hard pressed to condemn them to death. Even Teal’c was uncertain if they were proceeding correctly, but did not voice his hesitation to the others. They needed to do this. If not then the Yuuzhan Vong could just pick up the slaves and move them somewhere else, or simply rebuild here after they left.

"Sir." Lieutenant Bailey began.

"Not now. We have to do this." The Colonel cut him off, taking a brick of C-4 and setting it against the pen just out of the occupants reach. He had to quickly pull his hand away when one of the swiping arms almost caught him. Before conscience could persuade him otherwise, he had all the charges set on the various pens.

A scream behind them caused them all to turn. Captain Hanes was pulled tight against the side of the pen, various arms ripping at skin and clothing. The piercing cry attracted the attention of nearby Yuuzhan Vong. As they worked on extricating their friend, the guttural cries of Yuuzhan Vong warriors charging to their position crowded the air.

Their cover now blown, Teal’c hefted his staff weapon and fired into the throng of slaves. The growths turned shots as well as the Yuuzhan Vong’s armor, but the force of the blast pushed several of them back, and the light and noise scared the rest off. Hanes now free, they ran out into the lightest defended point they could identify, hoping to leave the position and sweep back around towards the hill from the outside.

The slaves that were on leashes were released, running madly at the team. Any thoughts about saving them were completely ignored as they fired round after round into the advancing throng. Aiming between the plates or finding vulnerable areas on their heads was all but impossible as they fired while running. Teal’c’s staff weapon worked better than any others, for any hit would at least push back the target, or perhaps knock them off balance.

Colonel Griff ceased firing for a moment as he fumbled for the remote detonator to the C-4. He had waited until they were a safe distance from all of the explosions. Pulling the device out of his vest, he pushed his hand down on the red button. Thunderous explosions sounded behind, drowning out the frantic screaming of anyone too near the blasts. Almost instantly they were hit by a wave of intense heat, shoved slightly off balance by the rush of air. Sparing a glance behind him, Griff saw that nearly all of their pursuers had fallen to the ground, giving them that much more time to make their escape.

The explosions left the remains of the camp in complete disarray. Those in the pens that were not killed ran off in every direction, attacking anything in their way, be it other slaves or Yuuzhan Vong. The sounds of still raging fires and screams of death assaulted their senses, driving SG-3 to run even faster towards the perimeter.

The guards that had remained around the outskirts were charging their way towards the intruders, forcing them to fight if they wanted to get out. Those that were chasing behind them had managed to regain their footing by then, making stopping and fighting a very bad idea.

One of the Yuuzhan Vong charging at them from the front suddenly fell and didn’t get back up. They looked on in confusion until the call from SG-5 came through the radio.

"Stay out of the line of fire and we’ll clear the way." Colonel Jameson, their new commander since Major Dillon’s death, stated matter-of-factly. SG-5 had brought along a sniper rifle, but was unable to use it before they had been found out because warriors suddenly dropping dead would have been just a little alarming.

The Yuuzhan Vong who were charging along with their dead comrade didn’t even spare him a glance, either uninterested in his death or simply assuming he was clumsy and fell. When a second one dropped, the rest finally skidded to a halt, unable to figure out what was happening.

Teal’c saw the slave soldier behind them, only a few feet away now, and twisted his staff weapon behind his back and fired, the blast connecting with the slave’s face. It screamed and fell to the ground, at that range the heat from the blast searing past the armor and destroying the sensitive skin and bone beneath. Of the 3 warriors that now remained in front of them, another fell, and as they got closer the team opened fire on the remaining 2.

The warriors were quickly brought out of the shock of the unexplained deaths of their friends and began to hurl back thud bugs in response. Hanes took one in the shin, and as he went down Teal’c rushed past the man and pulled him up by the neck of his jacket. As he continued to run they settled into an easier position, Hanes using him as a crutch. The hail of bullets forced the warriors to reel back, as the sniper rifle took another out. The remaining warrior let out a vicious cry and charged at the group, not bothering to let of any more projectiles. Several P90 rounds tore through its face, dropping it to the ground in a bloody heap.

The enemy at the front taken care of, they ran on as SG-5 kept their pursuers at a safe distance.

*

"This arrangement is unacceptable! Our casualties are the heaviest, we lose large numbers of Death Gliders in each engagement!" Bastet pointed out. A round of agreeing murmurs sounded around the table.

"Imagine how our casualties would be if we were not in this alliance!" Volak returned.

"We entered into this treaty under the assumption that we would not be shields for the Asgard ships!"

"Many of us opposed this alliance, you bring this upon yourselves!" Baal concluded, smiling wickedly.

"Perhaps it is not to late to change your fate." All of the System Lords gathered were shocked into silence, turning their gaze to the slave who spoke.

"A Lotar should know his place." Yu intoned, outraged that the human before them should speak as an equal.

"I am here to offer you an alternative." The man brought a hand up and pressed where the side of his nose met his face. A sickly slurping noise filled the room as his skin seemed to melt off of him. Blood dripped out of the pores of the Yuuzhan Vong beneath, beading on his face and chest. When the masquer finished extracting itself, the pool of fleshy goo pulled itself into a corner of the room. The alien before them wore nothing more than a simple loincloth.

The System Lords were all on their feet, the unexpectedness of the situation keeping them silent. The Yuuzhan Vong stared at them all for a few moments before he continued. "The Warmaster has sent me to give you the chance for survival."

"We do not need your offer!" Baal cried out, many of the other System Lords shouting approvingly.

"You would be wise to accept his offer, the Warmaster will not give you another chance." The creature replied.

"What, then, is your Warmaster’s offer?" Yu questioned, figuring they might as well hear what the alien had to say before they killed it.

"He offers to let you keep what you still have. The warriors of the Yuuzhan Vong will go no further into Goa’uld territory."

"And, what is the price for this?" Heru’ur added.

"The Warmaster is very generous. All you must do is pull out of the war."

"The Yuuzhan Vong will never again invade Goa’uld lands?" Yu sounded very interested, and the other System Lords had various malicious smiles on their faces.

*

Calisa panted as she sat on the large rock that jutted out of the ground. The sharp pains the action brought in her chest were easy enough to ignore; several days of walking had accustomed her to the sensation. Jack told a joke, what exactly she couldn’t say as she wasn’t listening, but she allowed herself to smile. They wanted the old Sam back, so that is exactly what she gave them. ‘Because that’s who you are’ a quiet voice in her mind responded, causing her to growl inwardly. That was NOT who she was. She was just pretending.

"Well, the forest seems to finally be thinning. What that means for us I don’t know, but it could be a good thing." Daniel stated. The sun was setting behind him, the red in the sky framing his head like a halo. The sight brought a hidden smile to her lips. It was a very fitting picture to remember him by.

"I wouldn’t mind finding a nice little city. Would be even better if they had a Stargate lying around." Jack exclaimed, dropping the load of loose wood he had collected for the fire.

Calisa opened her eyes and looked around after feigning sleep. In the faint light of the dying fire she could see the other two were out. Now was her chance to prove to herself exactly who she was once and for all. After tonight the doubts would cease to plague her. Her heart raced as she sat up, and for a moment she feared that that sound alone was loud enough to waken them. But they both slumbered on, oblivious to her plans.

She had decided that Daniel would be first. His protective manner was infuriating. Very cautiously she moved the short distance to where Daniel laid. Kneeling before him, Calisa sucked in a deep, anticipatory, breath. Then her hands clenched around his throat.

Immediately his eyes bugged open, but the pressure prevented him from making any sound. Calisa had to bite her lower lip hard to stop herself from crying out as her broken arm protested the action. She positioned herself on top of him to keep his thrashing to a minimum.

She looked down into his wide eyes as she strangled him. His expression was one of such bewilderment; she didn’t know whether she wanted to laugh or cry. As his struggles became more sluggish and his lips took on a blue hue in the firelight, Calisa found herself accosted by various images. She saw Daniel die when he was on Nem’s planet, and the sorrow she felt then hit her like a physical blow. Tears began to fall down her face as she remembered when they left him behind to die on Apophis’ ship. All the times they had thought Daniel dead or had to watch him suffer flashed through her mind.

A strangled sob escaped her lips as she pushed off of him, nearly stumbling into the fire behind them. Damn her, she couldn’t do it! The pain from her arm was overshadowed by the tumult within her mind. Conflicting ideas fought for supremacy, and she was but a hapless spectator. The urge to get away overwhelmed her, and she found herself fleeing into the woods.

*

Jack sat bolt upright the moment he heard the sob. He watched as Sam darted into the forest. Coughing and sputtering drew his attention to Daniel, who rolled to his side on the ground and clutched at his throat.

"Daniel!" Jack cried as he rushed over to his friend.

"I’m. Ok. Get Sam." Daniel wheezed between gasps, and motioned in the direction she had fled to. Jack gave him one more appraising glance before he got up and took off on her trail.

Sam was easy to follow. Even in the near darkness her path was easily visible by all the broken plants. If that wasn’t enough he could hear her crashing through the woods. He didn’t know whether to be angry with her or what. They had thought that she was coming around, but apparently that wasn’t the case. She had seemed to be almost back to her old self. Perhaps they were just deluding themselves.

Jack would have trampled Sam had she not let up a horrible cry. She was kneeling with her head to the ground and her arms wrapped protectively about her abdomen. Skidding to a halt only a couple feet from her, Jack could only watch for a few moments. Heavy sobs wracked her frame, no doubt agitating her ribs profusely. The sound was the most disturbing thing he had ever heard. She wailed into the ground, her cries begging for some sort of resolution.

Her sobs had leveled off at a more tolerable level, but the sound was still gut wrenching. "Sam." Any anger he may have thought about harboring was gone; chased away by the obvious agony she was in. She made no move to acknowledge his presence or his words, and Jack didn’t know whether it was because she chose to ignore him or simply didn’t register that he was there. Slowly, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Sam’s reaction was instantaneous and violent. She batted his hand off and used both hands to push him back hard, letting out a pained cry in the process. "Don’t touch me!" she cried as she did this. Now on her feet, she staggered back while keeping an eye on Jack. He could clearly see the tears running down her face as they reflected what light there was.

Jack had thought she was going to run again, but instead she suddenly grabbed at the bandage and tore it off. Her cry was almost as impressive as her sobs had been, tiny beads of blood appearing where the bandage had once been. He could see that her wound was almost completely healed, more along the lines of a deep scrape now than the gaping tear it had once been. Scar tissue around it was shockingly white even against her pale skin.

She didn’t stop there. Sam started to pull at her top, some irrational impulse driving her. They didn’t have anything else for her to wear, so Jack rushed up and restrained her as best he could, trying to cause as little pain to her as possible. "Vrat al uili! Vrat al uili!" she repeated as she struggled against his gasp. It went on for what seemed an eternity; her mantra interspersed with "Let go of me!" Jack just held on until she slumped in his grasp, shaking with a mixture of cold and lingering sobs. There was some heavy conflict raging within her, he knew that much.

"You can beat this, Sam. I know you can." Jack all but whispered.

*

Yu couldn’t, nor did he even try to, mask the smile that played his lips. He looked out of the viewport to the assembled motherships. There were 6 gathered already, and more arriving each moment. When they had accepted the deal with the Warmaster, the Yuuzhan Vong forces all but pulled out of the front with Goa’uld space, instead being sent to bolster the Asgard campaign. With the utmost secrecy the System Lords had ordered a large amount of their forces to group. They were going to put an end to this affair once and for all.

Probes from both the Goa’uld and Tok’ra had revealed the position of the Warmaster’s personal ship and escorts long ago, but they had been unable to delve so deeply into Yuuzhan Vong controlled space. Now it was all but a straight shot, hardly any enemy presence before they and their prize. The Warmaster would receive a nasty surprise.

Once all 12 of the ships were together, they made their jump into the heart of enemy space. The Warmaster had an impressive group to protect him, 8 capital ships on top of his own plus untold numbers of coralskippers and other smaller vessels. But the Goa’uld had the advantage of numbers and surprise.

Exiting the hyperspace window, the fleet of Ha’taks found no enemy ships waiting for them at the repositioning point of their ship. A cluster of planets prevented them from making a straight shot, so they had to jump to an empty region of space and make another window from there. As no ships awaited them, there would be no one to warn the enemy of their arrival. Yu’s smile grew even bigger.

They exited finally almost on top of the enemy ships. Death Gliders poured out of the motherships immediately and all weapons emplacements in the right directions opened up. Several shots had hit the capital ships before they could bring up their shielding. Many coralskippers were destroyed as they lay dormant on the living ship’s arms. The Yuuzhan Vong, true to their warrior heritage, were quick to recover. The next wave of shots was sucked in by singularities and coralskippers began to detach themselves as the enemy pilots scrambled. Formations of Death Gliders and coralskippers danced about each other, weapons fire going everywhere. The gliders used their greater numbers to simply overwhelm the enemy ships as they detached, not giving the Yuuzhan Vong sufficient time to amass large amounts of small fighters.

One of the Yuuzhan Vong capital ships near the front of the engagement was taking most of the fire from the Goa’uld vessels. The shielding couldn’t keep up with the large volume of shots, most getting through to cleave deeply into the hull. The ship simply broke in half, its contents spewing into the cold vacuum of space as it cracked like an egg. The weapons slowly stopped firing and the ship simply floated there.

The Yuuzhan Vong’s plasma projectiles were equally destructive. They burned through the shields of one of the Ha’taks, breaching several areas of the ship before finally cooling into an inert mass of rock. But, the Ha’taks and greater numbers and were better able to take out the Yuuzhan Vong flotilla.

Casualties were heavy, but the Yuuzhan Vong fleet group was finally crushed. They could have fled and saved themselves, but did not. The Warmaster’s ship had been the last to go, the bombardment from the 5 remaining Goa’uld motherships superheating the outer hull and causing it to explode in a grand show of light.

The System Lords returned home to celebrate.

*

"Sir, we just received a communication from the Asgard. They say that the Goa’uld have killed the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster. Apparently, sir, many of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet groups are pulling back for some sort of power struggle. It seems they can’t decide on a successor." Davis reported.

"What kind of power struggle?" General Hammond asked.

"There’s an internal struggle, sir. Several different groups have engaged one another."

"Then wiping up what remains should be a cakewalk." Hammond replied as a smile broadened across his face. The Sargent grinned stupidly. This was very good news; the Yuuzhan Vong threat was all but eliminated. Sadly, they had lost many good people in doing so.

That thought cut his celebration short. George was almost certain that the rest of SG-1 was dead by now. No word of any sort about them had been heard by anyone, and Lord knows the Tok’ra were listening just as hard as anyone was.

*

Daniel couldn’t help but run his hand over the dark bruises around his neck. They were painful to the touch, yet he found himself fingering them lightly. He looked over at Sam. She had almost killed him; would have if something in her hadn’t of snapped at the right time. When Jack came back with her last night she didn’t say a word, even when asked a direct question. Even during their walk that day she simply followed like a shadow.

Her wound was still not bandaged; she had freaked when Jack had tried to get her to use what he had brought of the living material. Leaving it open like that, he feared for infection, but they would just have to deal with that when the time came. At the moment, he just hoped that the real Sam was winning the battle inside.

Jack was in the lead, probably unable to look at her or him right now. He knew that he’d find looking at his very impressive bruising rather disturbing. On top of that the underlying strain between them was stifling. Sam becoming a walking catatonic hadn’t helped matters any.

When they stopped for a break, Daniel noticed Sam tracing the scars on her forehead. Her eyes were downcast, but he saw her brow creased in pain or contemplation, which he couldn’t tell. Daniel wondered how she had gotten the symbol. Did some priest-type guy do it, or had they made her do it to herself? Even more than that, he wondered if she had truly wanted them when it happened, or if she was still fighting within herself. He was sure that she had never really given up the struggle, but there must have been a time when her silent protests were strong.

He would have asked her the story behind them if the moment wasn’t such a fragile one. Daniel was afraid that the wrong words would spiral her back into the darkness she had been living for several months, and those would most definitely be the wrong words. So, he just contented himself to watch her and see if he could figure out what direction she was headed in.

*

Jacob strode down the ramp purposefully. Teal’c and General Hammond waited at the bottom for him.

"Jacob, to what do we owe this visit?" Hammond asked as they shook hands, Teal’c bowing his head in greeting.

"I think I may have figured out where Colonel O’Neill and the others may be." He informed them.

"Where do you believe them to be, Jacob Carter?" Teal’c quickly inquired.

"If my guess is correct then they are on the planet where the Goa’uld found the downed transport ship." Before they could continue the discussion General Hammond motioned that they go to his office and the continued to talk there.

"I thought the Goa’uld found all aboard dead." Hammond stated.

"Well, if they are there and are alive do you think they would stay in that ship? From what we have received from the Goa’uld it fits the description of the ship that attacked us. I am going to go and investigate with our Tel’tak and I figured you’d be interested."

"General Hammond, I wish to accompany Jacob Carter to the planet." Teal’c’s tone suggested that even if he didn’t allow it that the jaffa would go anyway.

"This command is sorely lacking personnel at the moment. I can’t afford to send anyone with you. Teal’c, I know what SG-1 means to you and I also hope that they’re out there somewhere, alive and well. Go and bring them back." Hammond conceded.

"I intend to do so."

*

"We aren’t getting anywhere!" Daniel exclaimed.

"I told you there may be nothing this way! It’s not my fault we haven’t stumbled across a 7-11 yet!" Jack shot back.

"I know. I’m sorry, it’s just really frustrating." The archaeologist calmed.

"You can say that again." Jack mumbled. They had been walking for days and there was no sign of an end to the forest, much less signs of any habitation. Living off whatever they could manage to catch that day was wearing on both of their nerves. Sam was still too drawn up to care about anything.

It was dark and they all sat around the fire. That day had been especially bad. Jack had only managed to find some wild berries of some sort, and hunger had caused them to eat and just hope they weren’t poisonous.

Sam lay curled up by her side, her face reflecting the disturbed nature of her sleep. The fact that their little spat hadn’t woken her was a bit surprising.

"What do you think about Carter?" Jack asked.

"I don’t know. I think that whatever they used to control her is starting to break down. Of course, I could be completely wrong." Jack had to agree; she was struggling with something. It just seemed a matter of which would come out on top.

"Tal a corae!" Sam cried out suddenly in her sleep, starting to toss violently. Both Jack and Daniel reached out for her, if only to keep her from rolling into the fire.

"Carter!" Jack cried with concern as he gripped her shoulder. It took several moments of shaking before her eyes finally snapped open and she stopped struggling. They were all still and silent for a time, not knowing how to continue from there. Without warning, Sam’s eyes suddenly welled up and she began crying in earnest.

"Daniel, I’m so sorry!" she apologized over and over, tears spilling from her cheeks. Finally Daniel pulled her into a hug, holding her as tightly as he dared with her various injuries.

"Shhh, it’s ok, Sam. It’s not your fault." He soothed as he held her. Her words quickly melted into intelligible sobs. Daniel continued to hold her and Jack watched on, unable to think of anything to do himself. He was beaming inside; this was a very good sign. But he still had no idea what she had said while still asleep. The fact that it was in Yuuzhan Vong wasn’t a good sign to him.

When she had finally calmed down, still in Daniel’s arms, Jack decided to ask. "Carter, what does tell a cory…"

"Tal a corae." Daniel corrected.

"Right, what does that mean?"

She didn’t extricate her head from his chest when she answered. "I’m not like you."

"Like who?" she stiffened at the question, and Jack wondered if he had stepped too far too fast.

"The Yuuzhan Vong." She finally replied, causing his heart to soar. Then after a moment she added. "Colonel?"

"Yeah, Carter?"

"Is it over?" How did he answer that one? He couldn’t guarantee her anything.

"If we have anything to say about it, it is." Jack replied eventually, and Daniel murmured his agreement.

*

Jacob and Teal’c ascended the ramp into the Yuuzhan Vong ship. It was so badly damaged that the Goa’uld had simply left it and not bothered with any studies, the turnout of the war meant that they could get their hands on ships that were simply disabled in battle. The smell of rotting flesh, both dead bodies and the ship itself, was overpowering. They both held a scented cloth to their noses as they scouted out the ship.

They found all the dead Yuuzhan Vong in various stages of decay. They also found an empty shell off armor in the cockpit. The inside was coated in dried blood and the front chest plate was damaged, breaking inward.

"Well, they didn’t say anything about this." Jacob muttered through the cloth.

"It would seem that the Goa’uld did not reveal everything about the ship." Teal’c affirmed. Why they wouldn’t investigate when there was a mysterious set of armor lying around was baffling. Apparently the System Lord that had owned the ship was either lazy or stupid, or the jaffa had been less than truthful.

"It’s the same color as the armor that Sam was wearing." Teal’c nodded at the assessment, he had also noticed that.

"If so, then Major Carter appears to have been injured."

"Yeah, it doesn’t look good." There was a lot of blood there, and who knew what they had to treat her with. Assuming, of course, that it was them. Right now it was looking pretty certain though. "We need to find them."

Teal’c was able to find their trail easily outside of the ship. Deciding that they probably went in a straight line, they went in the Tel’tak. They passed several hours in agitated silence as Teal’c flew and Jacob kept a careful eye on the sensors.

"I’ve got something!" Jacob cried out excitedly. "Picking up 3 distinct energy signatures."

"The forest is too dense to land or use the transport rings. We must locate a suitable area." Teal’c stated. There was a small clearing nearby, though on foot it would take some time to backtrack. They landed the small ship there and made their way in the direction the signatures had been in.

*

A Tel’tak passing overhead caused all 3 of them to look up curiously. The ship hovered above their position momentarily and then continued on an altered course.

"What do you think that was about?" Jack asked.

"If I didn’t know any better I’d say that whoever that was knows we’re here." Daniel supplied. They all looked at the point where the ship had been and along its new vector, the trees making visibility minimal.

"Do we want to be found?" Sam finally asked.

"If we knew who’s on that ship then I’d tell you. We’d better play it safe though. Find a good place to hide out." Jack responded, beginning to set up some false tracks and hide their real ones.

They waited for a couple of hours for the occupants of the ship to arrive. Sitting in the thick underbrush waiting for someone to arrive was becoming decidedly dull.

"Maybe we were wrong?" Daniel offered in a hushed tone.

"Colonel O’Neill! Daniel Jackson! We are aware of your presence! I am here with Jacob Carter!" Teal’c’s voice rang out through the thick forest.

"Teal’c?" Jack asked unnecessarily, stepping out from his protection.

"It is I." Teal’c responded as he too came out. Jacob was right behind him, Daniel and Sam coming out as well.

"It’s about time!" Jack exclaimed.

Ignoring him, Jacob took a step forward. "Sam?"

She didn’t look at him for a few moments, instead studying the forest floor. When Sam did raise her head, tears were beginning to streak her face. "Dad." She launched herself at him and they embraced fiercely, a muffled moan from Sam cutting the moment short.

"God I missed you." Jacob said softly before kissing her on the forehead.

"It is indeed good to see you returned, Major Carter." Teal’c intoned as a small smile crept into his features.

"Thanks Teal’c."

They set off for the tiny cargo ship. Together.

Continues in [Deaths Spawn 4: Scar Tissue](http://astele.co.uk/StargateFan/Chapter/Details/DeathsSpawn4.htm)

**The End**

  


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>   
>  AUTHOR'S NOTE: (In the middle of working on an epilogue, still need a beta for it, email   
>  if interested.)

* * *

>   
>  © April 2004 Not mine… No $. I’m just borrowing for a bit but I’ll give   
>  ‘em right back I swear.

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